Swapping Orbs

The year will end in shards of shining glass— the days of life now known, now longed, now lived; the crystal balls once full and promising now gone; the good and bad spilled out along the ground. And even as the final, shining sphere is dropped our hands are stretching, surging for the new. For […]

Our Emmanuel

One word, God spoke, and light blazed forth— The day and night beginning. With words He spread the farthest stars And set the earth to spinning. With words He brought to life the beasts Of earth and sky and sea. But with His hands He shaped the souls Of first humanity. Chorus: Adore the […]

My Lot

The puddles shine like glass on dampened, trampled trails; the rivers run each day where the forest stays and stales— well fit, they say, for me. But I can hear the sea. Perhaps the pond that rests among the browning hills? The crystal lake that skirts the mountain’s cedar frills? Enough for all but me […]

Medieval Advent

The frost lies hardened on the frozen ground, the trees encased in glassy slips of ice. A lonely raven calls across the field of silent white. The air is fresh and hard. I stand outside among my fields and look down at the rows of dying, stubbled corn: the husks of harvest—gone until the spring. […]

Immanuel

Limitless, immense our God, creation’s great sustainer. Eternal light, the life of men, now lying in a manger. For cradled in a trough of stone, the Lord of Heaven cries while Shepherds crowd to see their king with wonder in their eyes. – REFRAIN Our holy Lord has come to earth, the endless war to […]

Wait for the Morning

He always rises like the sun after night— after the hours, played like years, the coldness, hurting and hardening, the darkness, stealing the light like dementia. Do not let the fiercest night take you for God will rise to blaze above the frosted hills and scatter magic across the diamond grass.

Morning Mercies

What have I Lord, but what Your grace has freely blessed to me? This patch of sunshine earth that spins, hurtling through space, the slowly dawning mind fuzz warmth of waking with the light, the crunch of buttered toast, the yolky run of breakfast eggs, the multi-swirl of colored leaves, the tingling sting of fall. […]

Omnis Terra, Jubilate

All the earth rejoices through the throne and flashes glory in its every deed. Every widening smile speaks a creed: eternal longing, hopeful, though unknown. And though the ways of right misbent have grown— persistent sin besmearing love with greed, and marring truth with lies that make men bleed— the longing for the light is […]

On a Foggy Morning

The earth has donned her misty veil, With softened beauty, waiting for the sun To bound up strong above the trees And live again the ancient dawn When night and day first wed above the seas, The stars as witness to the two as one Who dance till earth and sky shall fail.

Not Forever

The pounds of time weigh down upon this place. The crystal dome is creaking with the strain. The painted sky has fractured to the West. But not forever. The hanging lights still play beneath the trees though everyday the wind will catch another in its path and cast it to the ground. […]